Oldtown’s McLaughlin follows in fathers footsteps to win Manager of the Year

There was pressure on Tommy McLaughlin as he stepped into the hot seat at Oldtown Celtic, but the manager resumed normal service at the club as they stayed at the top of the Saturday football in the Donegal Junior League. 

Chants of four in a row were belted out by the Oldtown players as they went up to collect their medals at the presentation night in the Silver Tassie on Friday as they went unbeaten for the second season on the spin. 

McLaughlin took over as manager from his father, Tam who had guided them to the previous three titles, so there was the lingering thought of living up to that in Tommy’s head.

“There was pressure because Tam had been the manager four or five years previous and boys were used to things being done. 

“You don’t want to change too much but I wanted to put my own stamp on the team and do things a bit differently in how we play but thankfully it seemed to pay off.”

While they picked up the league title, there were further individual awards picked up as Drew Connolly won Player of the Year, while McLaughlin himself won Manager of the Year. 

“I saw my name listed and it’s nice to see, I won Player of the Year a couple of years ago so to see my name beside Manager of the Year, I was taken aback a bit. 

“But it’s nice to get, although the main thing was to be here and for the boys to be winning something. 

“Drew got player of the Year and he had a fantastic season for us, he was mr consistent and performing every week.”

Having been a long term servant on the pitch, being on the sideline was a change but McLaughlin is hopeful of lining out again next season. 

“I was used to playing the last number of years as well so a wee bit of an adjustment was needed but it was seamless. 

“I haven’t signed any contacts and we have a few more weeks to decide on next year, but it was a nice way to top off the year and enjoy the celebrations. 

“I played there last couple of games and I found a bite for it again, I haven’t made any decisions yet on what to do next year and we have the AGM in a few weeks so we’ll decide then

“I’d still like to think I can play so I’ll try and get the boots back on properly next year.”